A pile of iPhone 5Cs caught charging at Pegatron, ahead of Apple's September event

We've seen plenty of case leaks of the iPhone 5C, giving us a general idea of what Apple's budget iPhone may look like. But a new leak that appeared over the weekend looks to be almost definitely the real thing, given the source.

A slew of iPhones were caught charging by French blog NoWhereElse and at first glance they could be dismissed as fakes. But Engadget did some digging to find the Sina Weibo image came straight out of Pegatron's Shanghai plant, where many of Apple's devices are manufactured.

The employee who posted the image appears to have joined Pegatron's quality control department in mid-July. This makes sense, given that the image more than likely shows some controlled quality testing for the iPhone 5C going on behind the closed doors of Pegatron.

She captioned the image by saying: "The low-end iPhone 5C to be launched for Chinese consumers in September doesn't look much different than the Xiaomi Phone 2, right?"

You may be wondering why Apple/Pegatron would be testing the budget iPhone in such an odd environment, though Engadget notes this has been seen in factory tours before.

ILounge expects the iPhone 5C to feature a similar back to the fifth-generation iPod touch, with a shape reminiscent of the iPod classic, which appears to be the case from the leaked body parts. It also suggests a 4-inch screen in line with the iPhone 5, with Gorilla Glass and the Lightning connector for the power source. This seems to be portrayed in the latest leaked images over the weekend.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5C at its 10 September media event. It is rumoured to be made out of plastic, which will help keep the cost down for emerging markets and customers on a budget. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Apple will ship two new iPhones in early September - the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

What's still up in the air for the budget iPhone is whether it will be called the "iPhone 5C" - a name that could portray "iPhone Cheap", and something Apple certainly wouldn't want. We'll be keeping a close eye out for the latest from Cupertino, so in the mean time keep it locked to our Apple hub.